Seahawks GM was ‘uncomfortable’ that no one talked about Bruce Irvin

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In the NFL Draft last week, the Seahawks were clearly in the hunt for a quick and explosive defender. Their top three choices, according to General Manager John Schneider, were linebacker Luke Kuechly, safety Mark Barron and pass-rusher Bruce Irvin.

Bruce Irvin is introduced as a Seahawk on April 28 at the VMAC in Rendon. (Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)

Keuchly and Barron were on many draft analysts’ lists as top defensive picks. Irvin? Not so much.

“They were, a little bit, standalone guys — not by a huge margin, but the three of them basically were up there all by themselves,” Schneider told Dave “Softy” Mahler on KJR radio Tuesday. “Obviously we felt strongly about Barron, we felt strongly about Kuechly as well, but we really wanted to address our pass rush. And it just fell to a spot where we said, maybe if we could move back a little bit, we could still acquire (Irvin).

“The only problem is, he was so quiet — people weren’t talking about him. And quite honestly that made me uncomfortable.”

On Thursday, the Seahawks traded down from their 12th-overall pick and ended up selecting 15th — gaining two extra draft picks along with Irvin, whom they ended up selecting. Sports pundits were surprised that Seattle took Irvin, who was projected for the second or third round.

But, as we’ve found out in the draft aftermath, at least seven other teams had Irvin in the top 15 on their draft boards.

Schneider has maintained that Irvin was Seattle’s first pick, even though Barron went seventh to Tampa Bay and Kuechly went ninth to Carolina. The Seahawks also liked defensive ends Melvin Ingram, Chandler Jones and linebacker Shea McClellin, Schneider said, “but there were a lot of guys who just didn’t have (Irvin’s) juice.”

Schneider also admitted Tuesday that there was a “strong possibility” the Seahawks would have taken quarterback Ryan Tannehill if he had still been available at No. 12 (he was drafted by Miami at No. 8). But he wasn’t, and the Seahawks selected quarterback Russell Wilson with their third-round pick.

“And if we didn’t come out of the draft with Bruce Irvin and Russell Wilson, we would not have felt good as a group,” Schneider told KJR. “Those are the two guys that really stood out, sure.”